Montana judge hands historic win to young plaintiffs in climate change case
- A judge ruled that the state is violating the rights of young people with policies that prohibit the state from considering climate change effects
- In a June trial, the youths had argued that despite its sparse population, Montana is responsible for an outsize share of global emissions
Montana is violating the rights of young people with policies that prohibit the state from considering climate change effects when it reviews coal mining, natural gas extraction and other fossil fuel projects, a state judge said on Monday.
The decision by Judge Kathy Seeley in Helena marked a major victory in the first youth-led climate case to reach trial in the US and could influence similar cases nationwide.
In her ruling, Seeley said Montana’s greenhouse gas emissions have been proven to be “a substantial factor” in causing climate impacts to Montana’s environment, harming the young plaintiffs.
Seeley said the plaintiffs have a “fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.” She said policies that prohibit state agencies from considering climate and emissions impacts when approving fossil fuel projects are unconstitutional.
In a June trial, the youths had argued that despite its sparse population, Montana is responsible for an outsize share of global emissions. The state is a major producer of coal, oil and gas that is shipped elsewhere and is also the home of pipelines and other infrastructure needed to ship those fuels.
Several of the young plaintiffs took the stand during the trial and detailed how climate change affected their lives.
Lead plaintiff Rikki Held, 22, testified that droughts have left “skinny cows and dead cattle” on her family’s ranch in eastern Montana and wildfires have made ash fall from the sky.